XFX GEFORCE 5200 (64BIT)

In this review we feature two different XFX GeForce 5200 video cards, one has a 128bit memory bus and other has a 64bit memory bus. Software used for benchmarking is as follows:- 3dmark 2001 SE, 3dmark 2003, GLexcess, Quake 3, Serious Sam SE and Unreal Tournament 2003.

SYNTHETIC BENCHMARKS

COMMENT "The 64bit memory version of XFX GeForce 5200 resulted in a 31% performance hit with 3dmark 2001 SE, 24% performance hit with 3dmark 2003 and an 18% performance hit with Glxcess when compared to the 128bit memory version. Using the 64bit versions default memory speed of 333mhz the difference was even greater, this resulted in a performance hit of 40% with 3dmark 2001 SE, 34% with 3dmark 2003 and 25% with Glxcess."

COMMENT "The 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 is 34% slower than the 128bit XFX GeForce 5200 and using default memory speed it's 46% slower. The limitations of the 64bit memory doesn't seem to hurt performance as much when using anisotropic filtering but the 64bit memory still resulted in a 24% performance hit and at default speed a 37% performance hit. We are using FSAA and the 64bit memory of XFX GeForce 5200 has now resulted in a 39% performance hit and at default speed a huge 51% performance hit."

COMMENT "When using the Citadel benchmark the 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 was 24% slower than the 128bit XFX GeForce 5200 and 37% slower when using default speeds. With Grand Cathedral the 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 was 22% slower than at default speeds it was 34% slower. Elephant Atrium had the closest performance, the 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 was 11% slower and at default speed it was 27% slower."

COMMENT "The flyby demo uses very little cpu power so we should see the biggest performance difference. The 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 was 30% slower than the 128bit XFX GeForce 5200 and at default speed it was 41% slower. The botmatch demo is more of a game benchmark than the flyby demo so the results should be a bit closer together. The 64bit XFX GeForce 5200 was 27% slower than the 128bit XFX GeForce 5200 and 40% slower at default."

VIDEO CARD

3DMARK01

3DMARK03

GLEXCESS

QUAKE3

SS2

UT2003

XFX GEFORCE 5200 OC

-30%

-24%

-18%

-31%

-19%

-29%

XFX GEFORCE 5200 (64BIT)

-39%

-33%

-25%

-43%

-32%

-40%

VIDEO CARD

3DMARK01

3DMARK03

GLEXCESS

QUAKE3

SS2

UT2003

CONCLUSION "When XFX GeForce 5200 (64bit memory bus) is clocked the same as a regular XFX GeForce 5200 (250mhz core and 400mhz memory) it's performance is reduced by between 18% and 31%. XFX GeForce 5200 (64bit memory bus) at stock speeds (250mhz core and 333mhz memory) delivers performance between 25% and 43% slower than a regular XFX GeForce 5200. XFX GeForce 5200 it's available cheaply and isn't being sold as a gamers video card and it's performance is fine for light gaming"